Blind and Partially Sighted People

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to address the needs of blind and partially sighted people in public libraries by increasing the availability of alternative format books and by putting in place a policy to ensure that libraries address the specific needs of blind and partially sighted people.

Dr Elaine Murray: Statutory responsibility for local libraries lies with local authorities. Each local authority is responsible for determining the level of resources allocated for the library service which they provide for the residents of their area. This includes the purchase of materials to address the needs of blind and partially sighted people.

  I understand that annual expenditure by local authorities on audio-visual material, such as talking books, has increased from £1 million to £1.6 million over the last 10 years.

  The Scottish Library and Information Council, which receives core funding from the Scottish Executive, issued guidance to local authorities on book selection policies two years ago and over 30% of local authorities now have a policy in place with all the other local authorities working to develop their policies. A book selection policy aims to deliver user-led services to meet the needs of communities. The policy should be based on a profile of the needs of the community, including the needs of blind and partially sighted people, and could allow for the provision of a wide range of book and non-book materials.

Blind and Partially Sighted People

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will support the Royal National Institute of the Blind campaign to set up a £20 million Right to Read fund to address the specific needs of blind and partially sighted people by increasing the availability of alternative format books.

Dr Elaine Murray: Policy on equality and disability are reserved matters. I understand that the Royal National Institute of the Blind have written to Ministers at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to seek a £20 million UK-wide initiative aimed at increasing transcription services.

Children's Hearings

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-25646 by Cathy Jamieson on 21 May 2002, how many recommendations children’s hearings have made for the child who is the subject of the hearing to be sent to secure accommodation in each of the last five years.

Cathy Jamieson: The number of secure accommodation orders made by Children’s Hearings over the last five years are as follows:

  

 

1996-97 
  

1997-98 
  

1998-99 
  

1999-2000 
  

2000-01 
  



Boys 
  

70 
  

125 
  

132 
  

91 
  

146 
  



Girls 
  

40 
  

52 
  

57 
  

46 
  

48 
  



Total 
  

110 
  

177 
  

189 
  

137 
  

194

Children's Hearings

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-25646 by Cathy Jamieson on 21 May 2002, on how many occasions in each of the past five years the Children’s Reporter has convened a children’s hearing to re-consider an earlier supervision requirement.

Cathy Jamieson: Review of Supervision Requirements is an integral part of the Children’s Hearing System. Every Review Hearing will consider whether the existing supervision requirement should be continued, varied or terminated, according to the needs of the child. The number of Review Hearings called specifically to "re-consider" an earlier supervision requirement is not separated from the overall figures.

  The following table provides the number of Review Hearings over the past five years:

  

 

1996-97 
  

1997-98 
  

1998-99 
  

1999-2000 
  

2000-01 
  



Annual Review 
  

6,903 
  

7,117 
  

5,835 
  

4,432 
  

5,999 
  



Requested by LA 
  

5,720 
  

5,144 
  

4,608 
  

3,300 
  

3,895 
  



Request by Child/Relevant Person 
  

379 
  

542 
  

563 
  

437 
  

561 
  



Directed by Hearing 
  

n/k 
  

1565 
  

3,021 
  

2,342 
  

3,336 
  



Transferred Case 
  

419 
  

8 
  

18 
  

212 
  

209 
  



New Grounds 
  

n/k 
  

545 
  

462 
  

359 
  

397 
  



Emergency Transfer 
  

n/k 
  

351 
  

345 
  

285 
  

304 
  



Three-month Secure Accommodation 
  

n/k 
  

166 
  

194 
  

138 
  

223 
  



Adoption 
  

n/k 
  

53 
  

49 
  

64 
  

52 
  



Other 
  

92 
  

275 
  

344 
  

60 
  

40 
  



Total 
  

13,513 
  

15,766 
  

15,439 
  

11,629 
  

15,016

Children's Hearings

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-25646 by Cathy Jamieson on 21 May 2002, on how many occasions in each of the last five years the Children’s Reporter has informed a review hearing of a change in a recommendation of a previous children’s hearing that a child be sent to secure accommodation.

Cathy Jamieson: The information requested is not held by the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration.

Health

Mr Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-24559 by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 April 2001, what audits have been carried out into orthopaedic services at Stracathro Hospital.

Malcolm Chisholm: Audit of particular services within individual hospitals is the responsibility of the Trust Management Team with responsibility for that hospital. No central audit data is captured for orthopaedic services at Stracathro Hospital. The member’s inquiries should be directed to the Chief Executive of Tayside University Hospitals NHS Trust.

Listed Buildings

Alasdair Morgan (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in light of its energy efficiency policy, it will review the rules regarding listed building grants which do not enable applicants to receive financial assistance with installation of double glazing.

Dr Elaine Murray: I have asked Graeme Munro, Chief Executive of Historic Scotland to reply. His response is as follows:

  These grants from public funds are intended to help meet the additional repair costs normally associated with the use of traditional and appropriate materials, craft skills and the conservation of original features. It would not be appropriate, therefore, for funding to be extended to include alterations to historic buildings, such as the introduction of double glazing. Draught proofing, or secondary glazing, are considered to be a more cost-effective and energy-efficient means of improving the thermal performance of windows in traditional buildings.

National Parks

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-23646 by Allan Wilson on 15 March 2002, why the ministerial appointees to the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority will only be announced once the results of the elections to the park have been declared.

Allan Wilson: The appointments cannot be finalised before the results of the elections are known because a number of candidates for appointment have also put themselves forward for election.

Roads

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when work will start on the upgrading of the A77 between Kilmarnock and Glasgow.

Lewis Macdonald: Work is expected to start in early 2003, subject to the tender for the PPP contract demonstrating value for money.

Scottish Executive Publications

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the full costs were of printing, publishing and distributing its consultation paper The right place, The right time – improving the patient journey for those who need secure mental health care .

Malcolm Chisholm: The cost of designing and printing the consultation paper and its web conversion was £1,300. The distribution costs were met from within the department’s existing running costs budget.

Tartan Day

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much it spent on Tartan Day celebrations in the United States of America in each of the last two years, broken down by department and agency.

Patricia Ferguson: It has not proved possible to collate all the relevant information in the time available for answering this question. I will write to the member once the full information is to hand and will place a copy of the letter in the Parliament’s Reference Centre.

Water

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive,  with regard to The Future for Scotland’s Waters - Proposals for Legislation, whether it will give a breakdown of the (a) £1.5 billion of possible benefits and (b) £840 million of estimated costs.

Allan Wilson: As we said in The Future of Scotland’s Waters – Proposals for Legislation , it is difficult to predict the costs and benefits of our proposals because these will be determined by the outcome of the river basin management planning process that the Water Environment and Water Services Bill will establish. The figures in the consultation paper are therefore only indicative estimates. They represent total costs and benefits, estimated over a 40-year time horizon, discounted to current prices.

  The figure of £1.5 billion of possible benefits was based on research into individuals’ willingness to pay for the water environment improvements that may flow from our proposals. It therefore represents the general benefits to society rather than the benefits that might accrue to particular groups or sectors. The researchers calculated that the annual benefits from these improvements could be valued at between £141 million and £324 million per year. The average of these adds up to some £1.5 billion over 40 years.

  We provided a breakdown of the total £840 million figure for the estimated costs of our proposals in the consultation paper. Our research indicates that the public sector may bear around half of these costs – some £400 million over 40 years. We estimate that the remainder of the costs may fall on a range of sectors including agricultural and other enterprises because of the need to tackle diffuse pollution and on other major water users such as distillers, textile and paper and pulp manufacturers and hydro-electricity generators.